Fastening device for boots or shoes



(No Model.)

G. H. BLISS. FASTENING DEVICE FOR-BOOTS 0R SHOES.

No. 334,738. Patented Jan. 26, 1886.

QM, aea eglzzg N. PETERS. PhnlmLinw ra hor, Wash ngion, B4 c.

NlTED TATES ATENT Fries.

GEORGEH. BLISS, OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

SFECEFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 33%,738, dated January 26, 1886.

Application filed September 11,1885. Serial No. 176,830.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. Buss, of Pittsfield, county of Berkshire, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fastening Devices for Boots, Shoes, and other Articles, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on thedrawings representing like parts.

This invention in button-fasteners is animprovement on that described in United States Patent No. 260,852, dated July 11, 1882, to which reference may be had. That patent shows and describes a fastener composed of a plate to be fixed to ashoe, and a lever connected therewith and provided with a button, the said lever having at one end a cross-bar,which is placed in a slot of an ear of the plate, the said lever having a pivoted and also a sliding movement, in order to permit the lever to turn when the button has been made to engage a button-hole, and also to permit the lever toslide horizontally, in order that it may engage a rigid hook carried by the plate. The button-carrying lever shown in the said patent is a rigid bar of metal, and to nnbutton the shoe each lever has to be subjected to straininsnch direction as to cause the lever to be moved bodily in the direction of its length, which at times requires very considerable strain, and also makes it a slow process to unbutton the shoe.

To obviate the difficnlties'referred to, I have made the button-carrying lever as a spring, and preferably of wire, the said lever having only a movement'about its pivot or in the arc of a circle, the lever engaging a projection rising from the plate, the said projection being, however, of such shape as will permit the bntton-carrying lever to be disengaged from it when the shoe is to be unbuttoned by a movement in the arc of a circle.

I have herein shown my invention as applied to a shoe.

My invention consists, essentially, in afastener composed of an anchor-plate having a loop-like bearing and a catch or projection, combined with a spring-lever having an attached button or button-hole engaging proj ection, the said lever being pivoted at one end in the loop-like bearing,which latter holds the lever in manner substantially as will be here- (No model.)

vice being just inserted into a slit, but not i turned back, other fastening devices being in readiness to be passed through the slits when the flap shall be further turned down. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of a fastening device embodying my invention. Fig. 3 represents a side elevation, plan, and end view of the movable lever or portion of the fastening device detached; and Figs. 4 and 5 are modifications to be referred to. v

The shoe A, having the top a and overlapping portion or flap a, (shown in Fig. 1 as provided with slits are all of usual construction.

The anchor-p1ate c is herein shown as a short piece of metal, having at or near one end a catch or projection, c, and at its other end a loop-like bearing, a", which serves as the pivotal point for the lever d, carrying the button or hook-like projection b, the said lever being shown as composed of a piece of bent Wire and moving in the arc of a circle, the looplike bearing embracing one end of the wire composing the said lever, acting not only to prevent longitudinal movement of the said lever, but also lateral movement thereof.

If the button-carrying lever should be held so loosely as to permitlateral movementthereof, difficulty would be experienced in causing the lever to correctly and unerringly engage the catch or projection of the anchor-plate.

The lever din Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, is bent, as at d, to constitute a shank for the head of the fastening device, which head may be of any usual or suitable shape or material, the said head being applied to the shank by casting or molding, or by pressure, as commonly practiced in button-making. Theleverd is so bent or shaped, substantially as shown, that when turned down, as in dotted lines, Fig. 2, next the anchor-plate, the said lever will engage the catch 0, and be held or locked thereby in its backward or closed position.

The anchor-plate c is herein shown as attached to the top or material a of the boot, shoe, or other article by rivets 6, one rivet being shown as having a washer, e, applied to it; but instead the anchor-plate may have prongs of any usual construction to be inserted through the material and be clinched at the under side thereof.

The fastening device, having been attached to the top or material a,will be turned to o ccupy the position represented by the devices nearest the top of the shoe, and the person to button the shoe with the devices in such condition will cause the heads or projectionsb to engage or enter snugly the slits or eyes of the overlapping portion or flap a, as shown by the fifth fastening device from the top, and the head or projection appearing at the outside of the said flap will be engaged by the fingers, and so engaged the lever carrying the said head or projection will be turned. over (see Fig. 2) fron1 the full into the dotted line position, thus straining or drawing the flap snugly down in place, closing the top of the boot or shoe about the foot, as represented by the two lowermost fastening devices of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modification,wherein the head or part, I), to enterthe button-hole slit is composed of wire, and in said figure I have shown the catch as located at the end of the anchor-plate, and the lever d is provided with a prolongation, b, to co-operate with the said catch.

In Fig. 5 the free end of lever d is bent to form a head, b, shaped to resemble a hook, the latter being shaped to readily engage or enter an eye, a", located at the under side of the overlapping portion or flap a, part of which overlapping portion and an eye are shown in Fig. 5 near the said lever;

In case the fastening device is made as shown in Fig. 5, the hook may be, made to enter an eye made either as a loop of thread, or the eye may be made as part of a wire sewed between the two plies of the usual overlapping portions, and the latter at its upper side may have, if desired, a series of false buttons added to it.

I claim- 1. The herein-described fastener, composed of an anchor-plate having the catch or projection c and the loop-like bearing 0", combined with the spring-lever having an attached button or projection and pivoted'with relation to the anchor-plate, one end of the said lever being embraced snugly by the said loop-like bearing, whereby the lever, held in manner substantially as described, is prevented from undue lateral and longitudinal motion, as set forth.

2. The combination, with the anchor-plate having one end upturned to form a loop-like bearing, 0 and having a catch or projection, c, of a lever, d, composed of wire, extended through the said loop-like bearing and held therein snugly, the opposite end of the said lever being provided with a button or projection, and being adapted to spring down over and engage the projection c, all substantially as shown and described, the catch or projection being shaped substantially as shown, whereby the lever may be disengaged from it without longitudinal motion of the lever with relation to the anchor-plate. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. GEORGE H. BLISS.

Witnesses:

F. L. EMERY, F. CUTTER. 

